Grandparents

Posted by kara

Grandparents were heavy on my mind this past week. My mom delivered a comic book about the 442nd infantry/100th battalion. It was really good and made me think of my Grandpa Joe and grandparents who had to go through all of that. I just don’t know how they did it. I mean, I guess you do what you have to. It just blows my mind when I try to imagine doing it myself.

It was also the 24th anniversary of the day my Grandpa Howard died. I remember it was on my friend Emily’s birthday: February 6th. I remember my mom saying I could stay home from school, but I was feeling fine so I went to school. I wish I could have been different growing up and cheered up my grandpa, but I just wasn’t old enough to get it. I’m glad I started to get how important grandparents were by high school.

And tomorrow would be my Grandma Toshi’s birthday. It’s still hard and I catch myself still thinking I might see her.

I started looking into nonprofits to donate to, in honor of my grandparents. Then I got a Facebook message (oh Facebook) from my ??second cousin?? Charlene. (She is the daughter of my mom’s cousin.) She said she was going a half marathon for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in honor of her grandpa (my grandma’s brother-in-law) who recently passed away from cancer. What perfect timing. I donated to her, knowing that my grandma loved her family so much and would have loved to support the cause. It just seemed fitting to me. Charlene and I just miss our grandparents.

So, grandparents… how special they are. More on that later.